Perak : Ipoh Tracks

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Perak : Ipoh Tracks

Ipoh, Perak : 14th March 2014

Trio Ride : Around Ipoh Town

Distance covered : 26.06 km.
Time : 5:20 pm - 9:55 pm
Time Taken : 4 hrs. 30 mins.(inclg. stops for refreshments, dinner & photos)

Route Recommendations :
1. The Kinta River Side has an interesting cycle-able pathway.
2. Ipoh is promoting it's heritage, visit places like the Ipoh Railway Station, Birch Memorial, old colonial mansions & shop-houses. In fact there is a tourist map that list & shows photo of these old building, the map is available from the Perak Tourist Information Centre.

PRELUDE

Cycling on the 2nd Penang Bridge.

My buddy Tailim (of the hApPy HaPpY blogs) and me were driving up to for the a major cycling event - the 2nd Penang Bridge Merdeka Ride event. En route we, we decided to visit some buddies who were back in Ipoh, a few of them were tied up but we did manage to catch hold of Kookkeong for a quick ride around Ipoh town. That "quick ride" turned out to be a 4-1/2 hours ride; Ipoh just had that much to offer!

THE RIDE

View Ipoh Bike Tracks (26.06 km) in a larger map
Ride Route: Around Ipoh Town

Starting off from the suburbs at Taman Pelangi, we rode to the Ipoh Railway Station then headed to the Ipoh Padang for some refreshing cendol and later for dinner at Kamwan Foodcourt. En route rode on the interesting Kinta River side and popped into to the Birch Memorial.

Kicking off from Kookkeong's house we headed for the Ipoh town centre riding via the surrounding residential areas. To one side can be seen one of the limestone hills that Ipoh is renown for.

We are now on Jalan Kelab Golf at the outskirts of the town. Tailim was smiling away, enjoying riding on this shady stretch where traffic was surprisingly light.

A quick stop at the Funny Mountain stall renown for it's soy-bean drink and delectably soft soy-bean curd.

At the Hugh Low Bridge we carried our bikes down some stairs and was at the Kinta River side. Now this is a place one should not miss when cycling in Ipoh. It's shady, green and interesting.

A bit of bicycle art decor on a rain tree at the riverside.

On a bridge over the Kinta River, the beautiful naturally landscaped pathways can be seen in the background.

Below a man was throwing his cast net as wide as possible hoping to catch as many fish as possible.
Hah! Fishing here right in the heart of the city, that's convenient.

Further along we visited a few "must see" places, starting with the Birch Memorial, which are part of the Ipoh Heritage Trail.

At the foot of this memorial is a plaque giving a brief account of this monument.

Opposite the memorial is the Perak State Mosque - the Masjid Sultan Idris Shah II.

The Ipoh Railway Station, this is one of the more well preserved larger colonial buildings.

And opposite the station is the Ipoh Tree. The tree is of the species Antiaris toxicaria, or in the Malay language "Ipoh" for which the town is named; so this is really an Ipoh Tree! This species of tree has many uses, one of which is poison extracted from it to tip poison arrows. Hit by one of these arrows, a victim will die within taking seven step - anyway this is what they say.

Time for a short break and some quick eats before starting our 15km ride back - at the Cendol Padang Ipoh shop opposite the Ipoh Padang, where one can eat while watching people play games at the field opposite.

We had some mee goreng, pasembor and of course the renown cendol!

This cendol stall has come up with some innovative combos. They serve cendol with a variety of fruits - banana, jack fruit, strawberries, etc. There is even cendol with Oreos!

On the walls, the shop doing their part to promote tourism, has pinned up several maps to help tourists, such as the Perak Fun Map...

... the Ipoh Heritage Trail Map and many more.
Most of these maps can be obtained from the nearby Tourists Information Centre located at No.12, Medan Istana 2, Ipoh.

Other contact details are - Tel : +6052552772/9962, Website : www.tourism.gov.my, E-mail : mtpbperak@tourism.gov.my.

Other than the colonial mansions that have be restored, many of the shop houses have also been restored and painted in bright colours that have given some character to the city centre.

Some shop-houses were not restored, left like this they have a character of their own too.

7:50 pm - It's dinner time at Kamwan Foodcourt, Canning Gardens.

Here, we were joined by Jason, another friend who has returned to his hometown.

The good food we had here were some Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun, Poh Piah and...

... of course the unforgettable Ipoh Curry Laksa Mee.

It was getting late, back at Kookkeong's house we packed our bikes into the car and drove up to Penang.

11:30 pm - Welcome to Penang Island, we are driving over the new 2nd Penang Bridge where we will be riding on a couple of days later.

The Silver State of Perak were to draw me back a few times again. Two weeks later we were part of the Taiping Heritage Fun Ride and another week later doing a Kampar-Chendriang loop.

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